An unidentified employee of a private school in Sector 48, Gurugram, has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a three-year-old girl inside the school premises, police said on Tuesday. The incident, reported by the girl’s parents, came to light on October 24 when the child, seeing a delivery man at home, used hand gestures to indicate an incident that allegedly took place in the bathroom of school. Police said that even after several counseling sessions, they were not able to gather the exact timeline of the event from the minor.

After informing the school management, the parents reviewed the CCTV footage with the school authorities, but were unable to identify the suspect. Following an unsuccessful internal investigation, the school reported the matter to the police on October 28.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (East Gurugram), Mayank Gupta, the parents filed a written complaint the next day. “On October 29, an FIR was registered against an unidentified suspect under Section 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act at Sadar police station based on the complaint of the parents,” added Gupta.

Gupta added that the Child Welfare Committee had held several counseling sessions with the child to gather information, but due to his young age, she was not in a position to provide definitive details about the suspect or at the time of the incident. “Although the child was shown photographs of two potential suspects during his identification, our interrogations with them did not yield any conclusive evidence,” he said.

A special investigation team headed by Kapil Ahlawat, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Sadar), was tasked to handle the case. “We have seized all the school’s CCTV DVRs and are analyzing a month’s worth of footage to identify the suspect,” Gupta said. The investigation also has the support of the crime branch and cybercrime officials.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, a large group of parents protested outside the school, accusing the administration of inaction and attempting to cover up the matter. They demanded the immediate suspension of the two suspects questioned by police and expressed frustration with the school’s handling of the situation.

Parents said the school discouraged the victim’s family from going to police, notifying law enforcement only two days after the incident and under threat of legal action from the police. family. Additionally, the parents claimed the school refused their request to gather support staff for the victim to identify the alleged attacker. (Now that the SIT is involved, do we know if there will be a live identification attempt?)

In response, a senior school official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two suspects had been barred from the premises but not suspended because there was no no conclusive evidence against them. “Police are investigating this matter and we cannot make any further comments,” the official added.